Friday, October 4, 2013

My mom and dad provided us with a fabulous vacation to Hawaii to kick off a big year of celebration. My mom was celebration a big birthday (we believe she doesn't look a day over 30!), mom and dad are celebrating 30 years of marriage this year, and my cute brother was preparing to leave on a church mission to Japan later in the summer. My kids stayed with my awesome cousin Lessley for the first part of the trip and my aunt Jayme for the end. Let's just say that they were less than enthused about going home to boring mom and dad!

This was the day they headed down to Lessley's. These two are a crack up!

We stayed at the Outrigger Fairway Villas. The rooms were 2 room condos and they were perfect! We had a lot of fun swimming and playing on the property there. The barbeque area near the pool was right near our rooms, which was very convenient for dinners.

Sorry, Steve, this was the only picture I had of our condo. He was trying on Andy's pants...not a good fit!

The first full day that we were in Hawaii happened to be a Sunday. We got up fairly early, thanks to the crazy time change, and enjoyed the morning before heading to church in Waimea. The ward we visited happened to be Steve's "Aloha O'e ward," the last ward he was in before he left his mission. The day we were there they had two missionaries to sing the Aloha O'e, one leaving to go home, and one leaving for his own mission. It was so touching to stand and sing that song, knowing Steve was there only about 9 years earlier. (I totally cried.) We also got to check out the mission pad (apartment), right across the parking lot from the church. It was pretty basic and kind of dirty...just the way he remembered it! Steve was in heaven in Waimea, so much so that he is still convincing me that this is the place our family should end up.

Signing "the desk" in the missionary pad

My cute sibs, Kelsi and Matt

After church we went for a drive to see the King Kamehameha statue and then on to the Polalu Valley. The hike down to the Polalu Valley was stunning and a bit steep. The reward at the end was breathtaking! I got to see my first black sand beach. It was so beautiful. We loved seeing the tiny, insect-like frogs hopping all around in the brush. The hike back up was a bit more strenuous and I was made only more self-conscious by the family that had competed in the half Iron Man race the day before, basically jogging up holding their children. Steve carried me up at the end, haha.

Andy and Michelle-These cuties celebrated their first anniversary in Hawaii, luckies!

I love my dad!

The whole group: Dad, Mom, Steve, Me, Andy, Michelle, Matt, Kelsi

This is a horrible picture, but I had to document the time Andy just about gave us girls a heart attack. He jumped out of these trees like a monkey and I am sure the screaming was heard from miles around.

Rather than going straight home we decided to hit one more of our hikes. *Side note: My sister, Kelsi, made it very clear that she had no desire to hike while on this trip. The first day we jumped right in by doing two hikes, one very steep and the other loooong and flat.* We wanted to see a sacrificial heiau (hey-ow) that Steve had visited during his time on that island. It was a nice, flat, long, breezy windy hike. It was actually a fun walk with beautiful views. (Sadly I don't really have any pictures of this!)

That night we ate dinner at the mall near our condo. When we got home I think we went to the hot tub, afterward falling into bed exhausted! Kartchners do not mess around on vacation!

About Me

I married my best friend six years ago and we are now 'living the dream': living in and learning how to take care of our first home! I am figuring out how to be a stay at home mom while keeping myself sane, while Steve is keeping himself busy with lots of school and work. Our greatest adventure has just begun! Our Little Miss E joined the family in February of 2009 and little sister joined the party in August of 2011. Life is sweet!